Blog
Would you rather?
Kids often play a game ‘Would you rather?’ It goes like this - usually accompanied by squeals of disgust and laughter: Would you rather have a big spider on your face or a slimey frog? Would you rather eat ants or dog poo? Would you rather break your arm or your leg?...
What’s in a Leadership Care Package?
Currently half of Australia’s population is in lockdown and working (schooling and doing everything else) from home is taking its toll. Imagine…. There is a ring at the front door. By the time you navigate the various homeschooling sites, half done jigsaws, and other...
Who is in your first team?
Who’s in your team? If you are in in an executive team – or any senior leadership team - this is not a simple question. Is the executive team you are a member of ‘your team’? Or is the operational team you lead ‘your team’? Semantics? No – a significant mindset...
Facing a difficult situation? Here’s the one question to ask yourself
Jasmina is a senior leader in a large government enterprise. COVID has been challenging, the work feels unrelenting, and now a significant restructure has been announced that may result in job losses. She is holding off overwhelm (only just), and here’s her strategy....
How to identify causes of distance in your team
One of the biggest challenges currently facing leaders is effective leadership of virtual teams and virtual organisations. With people working from home and snap lockdowns being the current reality in Australian life, this is something I am often asked. It’s easy to...
Omission or Commission
Thursday marks the first day of Financial Year 2022. Happy New Financial Year! As you reflect on FY2021, what do you regret? The things you did? Or the things you didn’t do? The conversations you had? Or the conversations you didn’t have? Adam Grant, in ‘Originals’,...
7 small ways to show courage in your leadership
One of my favourite TV programs recently has been ‘Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds’. It’s part-documentary, part-reality TV following a social experiment bringing older people and 4-year-olds together in a structured learning environment for ‘learning, connection...
Why you need to communicate more than you think
It’s an important change initiative. As a leadership team you have discussed it from all angles and are ready to implement. You communicate the vision and the plan to the rest of the organisation with passion, and then follow up with supporting messages over the...
What I learned in May from breaking 7 bones
May 1 was a normal Saturday… I was horse riding with my daughters late in the afternoon when things went horribly wrong. The horse took off, did a few crazy swerves and I fell, landing heavily on my left shoulder. Lying awkwardly on the ground, I tried to assess...
The current TRUST opportunity
We don’t trust CEOs! Only 48% of Australian’s trust CEOs to ‘do what is right’, according to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer* measured in November 2020. (The good news is that this is up 9 points from the 2019 score of 39%.) Before you say ‘I could have guessed...